Lost in Ogawa

Okay, so Halloween was around a week ago but who’s really counting right? Halloween can be really any day in Japan because if you go to certain parts of Tokyo and see how some of these young Japanese people dress, you would think it’s Halloween. Okay, so it’s a late post because I’m lazy and busy. Busy with what? I don’t really know. ANYway, Halloween doesn’t exist in Japan but everybody or at least all the young people know about Halloween but not in details. I don’t even know Halloween in detail myself but I know its an excuse for me to go out to a Halloween party on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, I had to work that morning (long story, don’t ask) so I really didn’t have any time to prepare for a costume. After work, I walked into a “hyaku en shopu” (equivalent to our 99 cent or 1 dollar store) and looked around for inspiration. I came out of the store with a toy ninja sword and a black bandanna for only 2000 yens = 2 bucks + tax….the tax always gets you wherever you go! So I wore all black, wore a beanie and put on my bandanna and covered my nose and mouth. Obviously my aim was to be a ninja! duh! but some people at the party knew I was from LA and asked me if I dressed up as a thug or robber from LA and I told them yes, I’m a robber that’s going to hold you up with a ninja sword =) My ALT friends that went with me wore their costumes on the train to the party. That got us a lot of attention on the train. Flashes from camera phones went off several times. The party was chilled and then went karaoking afterward until the sun came up. Can’t have fun without karaoking in Japan!

On a side note, I taught a junior high school class a little bit about Halloween. I had to teach them the origin of the Jack-O-Lantern! Do you know the origin of the Jack-O-Lantern? I had to look that up on the good ol’ internet! Then the fun began and I taught them how to carve Jack-O-Lanterns. Some of my students put on costumes or face mask rather that the teacher had brought. It was good fun. However, prior to pumpkin carving, the teacher wanted me to teach the students how to sing the Star Spangled Banner and explain to them the meaning of the lyrics. Who cares about the lyrics! I don’t!! haha. Halloween and Star Spangled Banner, that was really random. Then again, I did do this class in early September!

Pictures for Halloween Party
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=4849

Pictures for Halloween Class
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=64e9

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Monday, November 8th, 2004 at 11:37 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.